Projects: Protection of freshwater quality

Part of: Water quality research (WQR) programme

Area of Expertise:
Services:

Scientific Projects : Protection of freshwater quality.

Project: Causes of variation in nutrient concentrations in Northern Ireland surface waters

Programme:

Nutrient Management

Subprogramme:

Protection of freshwater quality

Objectives

Existing data on nutrient loads in drainage waters from agricultural land shows marked temporal variability. This variation may be due to a combination of factors:- the variety of potential pathways of loss, nutrient transformations and the impact of agricultural practices. Intensive monitoring is required together with novel approaches to data analysis to provide a more complete understanding of nutrient dynamics

Journal Articles

  • Watson, C. J. , Smith, R. V. , Matthews, D. I. (2007). Increase in phosphorus losses from grassland in response to Olsen-P accumulation. Journal of Environmental Quality, 36:1452-1460
  • Watson, C. J. , Foy, R. H. (2001). Environmental impacts of nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in grassland systems. Outlook on Agriculture, 30(2):117-127

Book

  • Quin, B. F. , Braithwaite, A. , Nguyen, L. , Blennerhassett, J. , Watson, C. J. (2003). The modification of commodity P and N fertilisers to reduce nutrient loss to the environment. In: Tools for nutrient and pollutant management: Applications to agriculture and environmental quality., (Eds. Currie, L. D., Hanly, J. A.), Occasional Rep. 17. Fertilizer and Lime Res. Centre, Massey Univ.,, Palmerston North, New Zealand. pp:115-121

Knowledge Transfer

  • Watson, C. J. (2003). New Zealand scientist brings rain simulator to Province. Newsletter 17 Dec 2003

Project: Forest impacts on upland lakes

Programme:

Nutrient Management

Subprogramme:

Protection Of Freshwater Quality

Objectives

  1. Establishing a framework for the management and protection of upland lakes therefore requires answers to the following questions:
  2. What, if any, are the long-term ecological effects of forestry?
  3. Are these effects dependent on interactions between phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and hence the timing of forest operations?
  4. Do the macrophyte communities (in particular) have a degree of resilience that enables them to withstand limited enrichment resulting from forest activities in a lake catchment?
  5. Are macrophytes better able to withstand a series of small disturbances, reflecting gradual aforestation or harvesting of a catchment, compared to a large perturbation associated with large scale planting or harvesting over a short period?
  6. Are planned changes to forest structure and composition likely to improve the ecological condition of upland lakes?

Journal Article

  • McElarney, Y. , Rippey, B. (2009). A Comparison of lake classifications based on aquatic macrophytes and physical and chemical water body descriptors, 625, 195-206. Hydrobiologia, 625:195-206

Report

  • McElarney, Y. , Foy, R. H. , Anderson, N. J. , Pla, S. , Rasmussen, P. , O'Dea, P. , Engstrom, D. R. , Park, R. S. , McGowan, S. (2009). A framework for the management of forest impacts on upland lakes. Report to INTERREG - Project 20274 Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute.